In early December 1997, professional
basketball player Latrell Sprewell of the Golden State Warriors physically assaulted and
threatened to kill his coach, P.J. Carlesimo. As a result, the Warriors voided his
multi-million dollar contract; then, the NBA suspended him for an entire year, the
harshest non-drug-related penalty ever dealt. Sprewell's hope for a lessening of the
penalty came to fruition this month when an arbitrator ruled that his contract had to be
reinstated and the suspension reduced.CNN/SPORTS
ILLUSTRATEDhas provided commentary on the sequence of events;
there are some interesting links on this page you might want to check out. Sprewell gives
his side of the story on anESPNsponsored websight, where one can listen to a RealAudio statement of
Sprewell's testimony. In order to see some fans' reactions to the event, atranscript of a talk
showis an insightful link to be explored. Among the numerous
social psychological concepts that can be seen in this event, aggression, attribution in
people's perceptions of the event, and the differences in the norms or standards that
apply to celebrities versus those that apply to ordinary people will be probed in the
following analysis.

One interesting social psychological
factor included in the news analysis of Latrell Sprewell is that of social norms and
standards. Moreover, it is the idea that sports is an area of life in which it is
permissible to suspend usual moral standards (Miedzian, 1991). Social norms and standards
deal with what our society determines is normal and acceptable. What is normal and
expectable in our society is determined by the situation. For instance, in this particular
plight, Sprewell -- a NBA player and a very wealthy individual -- was not criminally
prosecuted for assaulting his coach. However if the situation was reversed, and an
individual was choking, attacking and threatening to kill his boss at work, he/she would
surely be prosecuted in a criminal court of law. In class discussion, the majority of
participants agreed that there is a double standard for people with money and status. It
was also agreed that individuals who posses large amounts of money or status, consider
themselves above the law and frequently do get away with committing a crime.

Another fascinating social psychological
concept raised in the Latrell Sprewell case is attribution. A fundamental tool used in
accessing attribution is the Lewinian equation {B=S+D} which affirms that a persons
behavior {B} is believed to be a joint function of the situation {S} the person was in,
and the person's particular predisposition's {D} to act. Notwithstanding, the simplicity
of the equation can be misleading, as a plethora of errors can occur throughout the
cognitive process. When one juxtaposes the negative stance that the NBA's administration
took with some of the NBA player's attitudes -- some of whom called for a boycott of the
NBA's all-star game in support of Sprewell -- it is apparent that people's perceptions and
attributions of Sprewell differ.

Gilbert (1995) suggested that
misunderstanding the situation was a principal impetus in derailing attributional
analysis, as while "situations are often invisible, behavior can be seen, heard,
touched...." While no one condones Sprewell's actions, Sprewell himself later
apologized for the incident, the abusive situation he was in can not be ignored. Indeed,
if people recognize the presence of a situation, they often underestimate the capability
of that situation to affect behavior, as their psychological construal generally
will not include all of the intricate details (Ross & Nisbett, 1991; see also
Gilovich, 1987). Although the overall class consensus was that Sprewell was fortunate not
to be in jail, individual class members, who had experienced abusive coaches, were more
sympathetic to Sprewell, and placed some of the blame for his actions onto P.J. Carlesimo.
Additionally class discussion stated that as a consequence of his actions, the name
Latrell Sprewell will forever be associated with ignominy.

A stigma is defined by Webster's
dictionary as, "a brand made by a red hot iron; any mark of infamy." This
definition is accurate and very useful when the term stigma is used in a social
psychological setting. It also gives great imagery to the lifelong impact that an incident
or way of life can have on a person. A stigma can be formed immediately by a 'red-hot' or
'burning' image or incident that then forms the public's opinion of that person. Media and
public opinion can cast an image of someone that can become very hard to disassociate from
the person.

Nevertheless, there are degrees of
stigmatization, and how closely the person is linked can greatly effect the degree to
which they are set apart. Link and Struening (1997) discuss degrees of stigmatization this
way, "Stigma is therefore a matter of degree, as a mark or label in the extent to
which that it a person apart the person can be strongly or weakly linked to a variety of
undesirable characteristics." When the class was given the names of Madonna, Michael
Jackson and O.J. Simpson, a variety of responses and characteristics linked to each one of
them was volunteered. Apparently the stigma varies from how each individual is seen in
relation to how society sees them as a whole. Also discussed was the difference between a
stigma and a stereotype, and how the two concepts differ. A stereotype is a categorization
or a group of people as a whole, whereas a stigma is on an individual level. For example,
a stereotype could be of NBA players in general, while within the NBA group, certain
players have stigmas, such as Dennis Rodman, and now Latrell Sprewell.

In Latrell Sprewell's case, the fact that
he stormed off the court then actually came back two specific times to choke his coach,
branded him with a negative stigma. He has the possibility of always being known as 'the
guy who choked his coach' or as 'the guy who the NBA came down hard on.' The branding or
the stigma that this affair has caused Sprewell has resulted in a multitude of negative
repercussions, whereas the multiple gold medallist Michael Johnson's stigma fashioned him
into Nike's new poster boy. Not a single sponsor has rushed after Sprewell, and it is
doubtful that any will in the future because of what his name is now associated with; the
impact that a stigma has can last a lifetime. There are many more aspects of
stigmatization, and newRESEARCHis shedding more light on this multi-leveled issue.

Aggression has several prominent, and
some not-so-obvious connections to the controversy that Sprewell has caused. Baron and
Richardson (1994) defined aggression as "any form of behavior directed toward the
goal of harming or injuring another living being who is motivated to avoid such
treatment." According to this definition, not only was Sprewell aggressive in
assaulting Carlesimo, but Carlesimo was acting aggressively by yelling at Sprewell, as
were the NBA and the Warriors' management by punishing him. However, the physical nature
of Sprewell's behavior is why his aggression has been dealt with more seriously. Green
(1995) makes a distinction between affective aggression that is characterized by
negative emotion, and instrumental aggression where the perpetrator is
unconcerned with any feelings toward the victim. Sprewell's aggression would certainly be
affective, as it was accompanied by a great deal of negative emotion. The NBA and the
Golden State Warriors' punishment was instrumental, forasmuch as their motivation was to
harshly penalize his behavior, and hope to deter other athletes from assaulting their
coaches. Carlesimo's verbal abuse can be seen as either type of aggression, or more
likely, a combination of both. He was attempting to improve Sprewell's game, yet he was
probably angered that Sprewell was not putting forth an effort P.J. deemed worthwhile.

It appears that professional sports are
becoming increasingly more violent, especially basketball, with the actions of such
players as Dennis Rodman and Latrell Sprewell. Social psychologists have discerned a
number of influences that may be involved. One of the factors discussed in class was the
development of schemata or scripts for situations. It was remarked that sports players
have scripts for resolving problems with physical action, thus when problems arise, they
immediately seek to act, aggressively if necessary. Another influence mentioned was the
violence inherent in our society, and the media. There are a number of models of
aggression and the processes that lead to aggression, each considering different factors
in contrasting ways. As an example, Berkowitz's cognitive neoassocianist model, takes
cognitions, emotions, and expressive motor patterns into account, but due to its depth, it
was not discussed in class (Bushman, 1996). Briefly mentioned in the discussion were ways
of reducing or preventingAGGRESSION.

Incorporating many different social
psychological principles, the case of Latrell Sprewell offered the opportunity to explore
topics such as attribution, stigmatization, aggression and the norms and standards of
society; each aspect can link to the other. Attributions that one might make in the case
of Sprewell can often be traced to the stereotypes they hold, and the accepted norms that
they relate to certain situations and people. In the aftermath of this phenomenon, it is
undeniable that the issues brought up will not easily be removed, fixed or forgotten. One
reason why this case seems to draw society's attention is due to the fact that
in-group/out-group relationships were challenged. Sprewell attacked a member of an
in-group (his own team), thereby clashing with the normal transference of aggression in a
typical in-group/out-group conflict. This final aspect completes the other concepts by
combining Sprewell's aggression with the attributions of his teammates, thereby
challenging the social norms, and leaving Sprewell with a stigma that may last the rest of
his NBA career, and quite possibly for the rest of his life.

Gilovich, T. (1987). Second hand
information and social judgement. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 23,
59-74.

Link, Bruce G. (1997). On stigma and its
consequences: Evidence from a longitudinal study on men with a dual diagnosis of metal
illness and substance abuse. Journal of Health & Social Behavior, 38,
177-190.

Miedzian, Myriam (1991). Boys
will be Boys: Breaking the Link between Masculinity and Violence. New York: Double
Day, Inc.